Our first family vacation to Hawaii

Feb

16

We embarked on our first family vacation to the islands of Kauai and Oahu in Hawaii. I’ve been dreaming of this trip for so long since we didn’t have the opportunity to take a vacation last year. To prepare for this trip, I read many blogs and articles on how to travel with an infant. Traveling with an infant was fairly simple, but it did take a lot of thought into packing and what necessities to bring. We took the first flight out of LAX to Honolulu and caught a commuter flight to Kauai. It was certainly a long day of traveling, but Zara was a trooper! She slept and played with other babies on the flights. It also helped that my parents traveled with us.

We stayed at the St. Regis Princeville in Kauai which is a great resort if you are traveling with kids. They provided a crib with turn down service, a refrigerator, and complimentary pureed baby food. There were a lot of “firsts” for Zara during this trip. In addition to her first airplane ride, we started her on solids and introduced Zara to the kiddie pool. My initial plan was to begin solid foods when we arrived back from our trip, but I couldn’t resist the complimentary homemade baby food. The resort offers the Young Voyagers Club for kids ranging from 5-12 and a Keiki activity room. I love how the St. Regis Princeville caters to kids of all ages. We will definitely visit this resort again in the near future.

TIPS AND TRICKS WHEN TAKING AN INFANT ON VACATION:

no. 1 It is best to travel in the morning or late afternoon.

no. 2 I carried Zara in the Ergobaby carrier through the airport and on the plane. It allowed me to be hands free in order to remove my shoes as we moved through TSA. I was able to rock Zara to sleep in the plane while she was in the Ergobaby.

no. 3 We brought the UPPAbaby Vista stroller, UPPAbaby Mesa car seat, and base. UPPAbaby offers a TravelSafe Program to protect the stroller in an event damage occurs. Luckily we bagged the stroller because it was damaged during transport. I filed a claim and UPPAbaby sent us a new stroller frame. Airlines don’t charge a fee if you counter or gate check your stroller and car seat.

no. 4 Contact the resort a few weeks prior to arriving to reserve a crib and all necessities for the baby.

no. 5 We created an environment at the resort that mimics Zara’s sleep routine. For example, Zara has a musical lion she plays with before she goes to bed and when she wakes up. We placed the lion in her crib so she would keep to her routine.

no. 6 Spencer and I decided to keep Zara on LA time to ensure her sleep schedule wasn’t disrupted. She was in bed by 5:30pm (7:30pm/PST) and woke up at 5:30am.(7:30am/PST).
We hope you enjoyed this post on how to travel with a baby! Stay tune for Wednesday’s post on how to plan a destination wedding in Hawaii and Friday’s post on snippets of the desserts we tasted. Aloha!